5 Myths About College That Must Die Immediately

“The Big Whopper” of a myth that is highly destructive to college outcomes: All colleges are basically the same.

This one could not be more wrong. In the United States, the pedagogical differences between public research universities with 30,000 or more students and liberal arts or teaching-oriented colleges are vast. Not to mention the differences in campus cultures and the kind of students attending a particular colleges. Colleges vary in who they can best serve and not every college can meet every particular student’s unique social, academic, and cultural needs.

The more prestigious a school is, the higher the quality of education available.

Again, this could not be further from the truth. Much of the prestige that a college acquires is due to the faculty superstars that are employed by the college. Yet, a vast majority of those superstar professors do not teach undergraduates at all. Those that do are not known for the quality of their teaching. There are plenty of lesser-known colleges that provide top-notch professors who are great teachers as well.

Pre-professional majors like business are the best choice unless you are going to major in a STEM field.

During the peak earning years, social science and humanities degree holders earn higher salaries than those with pre-professional majors, according to research by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

You must major in business to get an MBA, pre-law to get a JD, or pre-med to acquire an MD.

Most graduate school admission personnel advise the exact opposite. Graduate schools know that they can teach you anything you would ever need to know about the specific field of study, but they can not teach you how to think, communicate, or the knowledge of an additional area of expertise.

Only students at big schools with big-time sports have fun during the college years.

Students have fun at every single college in the country from those with the largest enrollments to those that have the fewest students. College kids find a way to enjoy their experience whether they are in a remote rural area or in the middle of Manhattan or Chicago. No matter where you go to college, there will be way more events, activities, speakers, and parties than you could ever dream of attending. Counter-intuitively, students at small schools often have the richest social lives because they have easy and intimate access to just about every single student and activity on campus. At big universities, students sometimes complain about the lack of cohesive community, a sense of anonymity, and the difficulty of making friendships.